BERLIN RAID

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24821, 18 February 1944, Page 3

BERLIN RAID

1000-BOMBER ASSAULT GREAT GLOW OF FIRE 1200 KILLED IK ONE HOTEL | (Recti. 11 .no p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 17 1 i Practically nothing is •left of the western part of Berlin after the Royal Air Force's raid on Tuesday night, according to a traveller who has arrived in Sweden by air from the German capital, says the Daily Mail's Stockholm correspondent. Communications were paralysed and it took three hours to cover a few miles from his hotel to the airport. All buildings en route were smashed. At least 200 people were killed when the Hotel Bristol, ono of the last remaining buildings in the Unter den Linden, was directly hit by a bomb. Another eye-witness said that the Chancellery was hit again. 70 Tons a Minute The Air Ministry states that the number of aircraft missing from last night's operations of the Bomber Command is -33 and not 45. The largest bomber force which so far has attacked Berlin bombed the city at the rate of over 70 tons a minute between 9.15 p.m. and just after 9.45 p.m. Of the force of more than 1(XX) aircraft despatched the greater number were Halifaxes and Lancaster,s. All these concentrated on Berlin, with the exception of Laneasters, which made a feint attack on Frankfurt-on-Oder. The 1000-bomber attacks of 1942 have already been many times surpassed in weight, effectiveness and range. In the new 1000-bomber assault no crews were detached, as in 1942, from training stations and almost every squadron was flying four-eiigined bombers. Dense Black Smoke i More than an hour after the main attack Mosquitoes were still making the work of Berlin's fire brigade difficult and dangerous. Their crews reported an enormous i>all of dense black smoko over the citv, rising to a height of 20,000 ft. Under clouds which covered the whole city in a thick layer to nearly 10,000 ft. a great pear-shaped glow of fire stretched across the target. Smoko had begun to filter upward through tho clouds even before the main force had finished its raid. The anti-aircraft lire was so violent when the first skymarker bombs were dropped that it was evident that tho main night-fighter force was late. Scattered fighter flares later began to appear in the skv ( but even in the last stages of the attack many of our crews bombed without opposition from fighters. The weather may have grounded some of the fighters. The Germans seem unable to get a large enough number over Berlin to intercept more than a small proportion of a great force of bombers. Tho air defences appear to have been effectively saturated, as flak and searchlights were unable cither to get through tho cloud or illuminate thorn to silhouette the bombers. Few Night Fighters Met; The raid was comparatively uneventful except for the people of Berlin, says a Press Association at a bomber station somewhere in England. Cloud prevented the observation of results, but the crews saw a big rod i glow below tHem. lew night fighters wore met. although many fighter flares were dropped. Thirty-five planes from this station participated in the operation and all came back. None showed even n scratch. This raid was tho 15th major assault since the battle of Berlin began on November 18. The last heavy attack was on January 30, when over 1500 tons of bombs were dropped. A similar tonnage was dropped on January 27 and 28." The Berlin radio's version of the attack was: "Tho British air Huns made another terror attack against Berlin last night. They used favourable weather conditions, the cloud cover over Berlin being thick, to drop their bombs at random over various districts. Extremely heavy anti-aircraft lire met the terror planes and shot down a number over the city area. Damage was caused, particularly in residential districts. Several churches and hospitals were hit. The brave Berlin population, which once more stood up to tho enemy terror with hard" determination, suffered casualties." IMPROVED HALIFAX (Kccd. h.:»> p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 17 A new typo of Halifax bomber is now playing an important part in the I! ova I Air Force heavy attacks on Berlin. It is tho Halifax Mark HI., and while it follows the general features of the earlier types it incorporates many additional refinements. One is the_ installation of Bristol Hercules engines of more than 1050 horse-power, which give the aircraft an improved take-off, higher top speed and a higher ceiling. It has a new typo of fins and rudder and an increased all-up weight. The new bomber's armaments are nine machine-guns, including one in_t.be nose. Tho performance figures are still secret, but the earlier version of_ the Halifax had a top speed of 300 miles an hour, a maximum rango of about 3000 miles and a bomb-load of five and a-lialf tons. HAMMERFEST RAIDED LONDON, Feb. Hi Tho Berlin radio said that British planes last evening raided Hammerfest, Norway, tho most northern town in the world. It was a nuisanco raid, m which no military objectives were hitTwo Norwegian coastal steamers were sunk. YEAR'S BOMBER LOSSES LONDON, Feb. 1(5 The Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, slated in the House of Commons that 230!) British and 997 United States Army Air Force bombers operating from Britain were reported lost over Germany and Northern Europe from January 1 to December 31 in 1943. Tho figures for January, 1914, were 319 British and 178 American planes lost.